For dangerous storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes, safe emergency shelters protect persons and property from harm and destruction. Hurricanes and tornadoes have been recorded with wind speeds of over 250 mph and tornadoes are capable of staying on the ground for over one hour. Flying debris can cause much injury and destruction. It is not uncommon that people are killed during these dangerous storms as well as causing millions of dollars in property damage. Regardless of catastrophic damages that occur from hurricanes and tornadoes, relatively little protection against them is provided because of variously prohibitive problems with present protection alternatives. Thus, there exists a need for storm shelters.
When hurricane type warnings are issued, some homeowners choose not to evacuate, but instead choose to stay in their residence and wait for the hurricane to dissipate in power and hoping the hurricane will move into a different area. When tornado type warnings are issued, there is usually very little time for individuals and families to go to community shelters. Also many community shelters do not allow for pets. The National Tornado Forum has announced an effort to encourage more people to build “safe rooms” (emergency shelters). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) have programs and financing in place to encourage people to place their families in “safe room” or shelters. Evacuation that takes place in densely populated areas themselves can be dangerous due to traffic and weather.
It is desired to have a prefabricated shelter that is incorporated into the construction of a home and able to withstand significant wind velocities and other catastrophic damages that occur from hurricanes and tornadoes.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and prior proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems and methods with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.